A Few Needed Adjustments
by fuckret
Summary: Not only does Natsume go through puberty, she had to handle having a totally different father, teenage angst, and yokai wanting to mess with her. But mostly angst.
1. Morning Glory

It was a cold Sunday in Sakura New Town. Cold for a June. Dew littered the grass and various fauna, reflecting the sun's glistening ray's creeping over Mount Wildwood. It blanketed the houses below in a warm and comforting glow.

The orange brightness was enough to wake some people up; one of those people was Natsume Amano.

The uncurtained window welcomed the sun's ray's, filling the once dark room with light. It illuminated all the neatly placed objects and items belonging to the girl, including her blanket covers. Since the night was much colder than the morning, Natsume had the mint green comforter pulled up under her chin. Her feet stuck out from the night of tossing and turning, but she didn't notice this as she slept.

She also didn't notice the feeling in her abdomen.

Turning over to her right so her face might avoid the warming rays, the covers went with her. It exposed the part of the bed where she had been sleeping most of the night.

On part near the edge, there was a splotch of dried blood, staining her sleeping shorts also in the process.

But also beside the spot was a tail, long and thin, sticking out of ,and pulling down a little, said sleeping shorts.

And yet it was only when Natsume couldn't go back to sleep from the sun's light poking at her did she decide it was time to get out of bed.

Throwing off the covers in sulky manner, she swept her legs off the bed and planted her feet on the floor. When the back her thighs hit the crimson stain, she froze and tried to comprehend what she felt.

Had she...but...it had to be. At thirteen, this was something she had to expect for her womenhood to sprout from her womb, or something like that. Her sex ed teacher had a weird way of explaining things.

But this was just bad considering she had just washed these sheets yesterday. At least it was better than what she thought it was at first.

Groaning a little, the girl stood up to get dressed before having to wash the bed covers. That was when she noticed the second surprise. After a three steps, a soft thump came from behind her. Natsume turned, thinking she dropped her phone, only to find a hairless tail on the floor leading up to the small of her back.

It was truly a surreal experience. She just looked at it, ironically detached from everything. The first thought that came after the mental silence was that she was just tired and seeing things. It made the most sense at this point.

Natsume just stumbled to dresser, reaching for the knob before she saw another thing. Her hand now had pads, colored slightly darker than the rest of her skin, that felt soft and sensitive. Along with that, her fingernails had gone sharper at the ends and felt looser than usual. Her eyes had gone as big as dinner plates as she stared at the other anomaly.

Ok, the tail she could just write off as some sort remenent of a dream, but these? No, just no. Just in case, Natsume pointed a finger at one of the pads, gingerly rubbing it. It gave a her a feeling equal to a tickle, but she was far from laughing. She wanted to scream at this point.

First, she just menstruated all over her covers (the ones she had just WASHED), and now she was turning into a werewolf? This couldn't get any worse.

Yet it did.

Natsume quickly gathered up an outfit consisting of a black t shirt with a pair of comic book lip and a capris, along with extra undergarments, before making the mistake of standing up in front of the mirror.

Instead of the normal rounded ears and brown eyes, Natsume instead had her ears pointed at the ends, her irises now a brilliant green.

She tried to ignore what she had seen and focus on changing from her bloody clothing.

But she halted everything before she had started when she realized she would need a pad. They were most likely downstairs in the bathroom cabinet.

That would be fine and dandy if it wasn't for the fact that she had this whole transformation thing going on. She would have to be extra silent now lest she wake up her family and cause some sort of panic.

Hesitantly, Natsume made her way to the closed door leading to the upstairs hallway. With her hand of the knob, she gulped and inhaled deeply.

It took less than a minute, but it felt faster to Natsume. She could remember the speed walking, almost sliding due to her socks, across the hallway, the sprint down the stairs, and the rummaging around cabinet before finding what she needed.

Now back at her destination, back against the door and her breath erractic, she slid down and waited for her heart to stop beating so fast.

"Ho boy," she muttered.

After finally calming down, Natsume began to dress herself, bottom to top. She wasn't surprised at this point when taking off her socks to see her feet had also changed to a more animal like form. The underside of her toes and balls of her feet had the same paw pads sticking out. She thought her pinky toe was missing at first until she turned her leg to see it had gone a few inches up her leg and shrunken into a dewclaw.

More questions were brought up during the seemingly long dressing, mostly "who", "how", and "why" questions. Why had had this happened? Who was responsible for this? Was it some yokai mischief or something else?

She needed some help and she knew exactly who to call.

The shed-like building was another building bathed in the sun's glory. It's blue walls contrasted against the mix of warm colors in the sky. Even his haze of sleepiness, Touma could mentally point it out.

He was dragging himself here after received a frantic call from Natsume telling him to come over to the Agency. She didn't say what it was, but he wasn't going to risk his friend getting hurt due to him thinking he was being pranked.

Once he went up to the door, he tried to open it only to find it was locked.

This worried him a little until it was unlocked and opened by Whisper, a frazzled look spread across his pale face.

"Uhh, hey Touma, I assume Natsume invited you over, am I correct?"

"She said that there some important stuff she needed help with,"

"Yeah...just, come in,".

The first thing Touma noticed in the room was the lighting, or the lack of it. The one room storage building was only illuminated by the light from the outside. It was hard to see much, but there was just enough to see the sobbing pile of blankets on the floor. The size of the lump gave away who it was.

"Natsume?" he asked, voice tinged with an icy fear.

"I'M A FREAK, TOUMA!" the voice practically pushed Touma back due to it's volume.

"W-what do you mean?"

"I mean this!"

She sat up and pulled back the thin blanket, revealing what she had morphed in to.

Her faces was red from crying and tears covered her cheeks, jaw, and neck. Touma felt like runny mascara was the only thing that could make this more dramatic.

But her other features also caught his attention. She looked more...doglike. Her ears were pointed and her eyes had changed colors. Her hands now were clawed and had a pumped up skin for pads. Natsume's legs had the worst luck. The feet looked like a hairless canine had put it's heel down like a human. The last big feature was the whip-like tail that reminded him of a rat's.

"I can never go into society ever again! I'll have to live underground with a mask to hide my hideous face and learn opera!" Natsume moaned a little.

"Hey, it's gonna fine, Nat. We just need to find what's causing this and, err, find something to make it...betterrrrr?" he trailed off on the last part as he really couldn't make any promises. Her guess on this was as good as his.

Natsume sniffled, but didn't look like she was going to break out into tears, which was good.

"I'll, um, ask some questions about how you got to...this, and we can research and stuff like that," Touma felt weird being so hesitant and more emotional than usual.

"Ok, when did this start?"

"Well, I woke up this morning and felt kinda weird inside. It turned out it was because I had..." she looked away from him,

"My period...for the first time. This stuff," Natsume gestured to her tail, " just appeared over night, I think,".

"Were there any other signs before today?"

"No, none at all,".

Touma sighed. He had a vague idea that her starting puberty might coincide with the transformation, but there were just two pieces of evidence to go off of. At least it explained her sudden dramatic spell.

"Whisper, go on your pad and see what this is,"

"Right away," the ghostly butler whipped out his pad and began typing in the answers Natsume gave.

"Touma," said pre teen turned his head to face Natsume,

"thanks for coming over at the crack of dawn to support me. I feel kinda bad for waking you up early,"

"Hey, if you need my help, I'll be there. That's what friends do,".

Natsume let out a little smile that always thawed Touma's heart bit by bit.

"Hey, since we're friends, could we pick something up at McDonald's? I'm starving,".

Touma groaned. He knew who she wanted to pay for the food. But, after the morning she had, he would gladly do that.

 **A/N: Hey, Cj here. If you didn't see it already, I've gottwn rid of the old chapters of AFNA and replacing them. This is because I'm rewriting this story. After rereading the chapters, I've realized a lot of the vision I had for this story wasn't realized or done well.** **P.S, I've been slacking on Shit, Let's Be Parents because I can't figure out where start the story.**


	2. The First Dramatic Reveal

Two things surprised Touma that morning. Well, three if you counted the whole "friend transformation" thing: One, McDonalds surprisingly had delivery service for their food, and two, Natsume had just eaten three sausage McMuffins, half a pound of rice, and seven eggs. She wasn't kidding when she said she was hungry.

He decided to have her eat at his home so she wouldn't be seen in her state and he could have more tools and research at his disposal. Touma mentally patted himself on the back for making that decision as he saw how his friend was eating her seventh egg.

Most humans bit off a piece, chew about thirty four to fourty eight times, and swallowed. Natsume took out the middle man by biting off a piece and pulling the whole thing down. He surprised she hadn't choked already. He observed a few things from this action: one, her throat seemed for flexible and bulged more than it should have when she swallowed; two, her canines had gotten larger and sharper than they would normally be; and three, she could stomach more food than she usually could.

Though disgusting, it gave him a few more pieces of information on what she could be. So far, all resources had told him she was turning into a were beast. This didn't really make sense as the sun was rising and yet she still acted like a wolf or some other dog-like animal.

"This is hopeless, Whisper," Touma said. His forehead was being cradled by his hands as the light of his laptop brightened his dark room.

"First of all Touma, open a curtain or something. You're going to make yourself blind,"

the ghost butler grabbed a handle of the blinds and opened them, filling the room with a harsh orange glow. Touma hissed in protest and put his white comforter over his head.

"Second of all, you shouldn't give up now. I have found something very interesting should shed some light on this situation,".

Touma's ears perked up and he scooted over to Whisper's side. He pulled out his pad and gave it to Touma to look at.

It was an article on Wiki-like website. The title stated the main topic: Yokai-Human Hybrids.

"Wait, you're saying Natsume is a-"

"Keep reading,"

Skimming through the article, Touma gathered that hybrids were pretty rare. The only way for them to exist was if a yokai and human had successful intercourse (he felt weird reading that) and even then it was a one is five hundred chance it would happen.

It varied when the children would show their yokai side,but it was usually from birth or at... puberty.

"Sweet Mary, Jesus, and Joseph,"

"That's how I felt, too,"

"Should we tell her, Touma? I mean, this is some life shattering inform-"

Whisper cut himself off as he noticed the preteen missing from his place.

Floating out of the room and into the bedroom and into the living room-kitchen hybrid showed the scene he feared.

Touma was standing beside the marble counter, across from Natsume. There were a few cracked eggshells beside her, emptied of their contents. One was in her hand, untouched now as her body was frozen in shock, pupils as tiny as pinpricks.

Whisper wanted to say a lot of things. He wanted berate Touma for his suicidal candidness. He wanted to console Natsume after this reveal.

But, instead he said,

"You're eating raw eggs?".

 **A/N: Short chapter, but I hope you still like it.**


	3. Second Dramatic Reveal

"Why the hell did you straight up tell her that?"

"What, you want me to lie to her?"

"No, but now you've scarred her!".

The said girl was sitting in the art deco couch, thousand yard stare in her eyes. Her mind could barely wrap around the concept, no, the REVELATION she just heard. She...wasn't human. She wasn't human. No matter how many times she said it or thought it, it was just too hard to believe. Had her mother been cheating on her father? Or had she been tricked? Or-or...

No, Natsume. Get those silly thoughts out of your head, she thought to herself.

Shit, everything was so confusing now. She wanted to think it was her father, because usually it was the guy who cheated, but there were maternity pictures of before she was born, so that theory was out the window.

But that left her with who diddled with her mother.

"Hey," she interrupted the two guys from their almost fist fight. They whipped their attention to her as she continued.

"I think we should find out who my dad is,".

Silence.

"But...I mean-"

"Sure,"

"Oh my God, Touma, I thought we went over this!"

"First of all, calm the hell down, Whisper, second of all, this might be good for Natsume,"

Whisper and Natsume perked up their ears at this, but for totally different reasons.

"I mean, since Natsume is half yokai, doesn't that mean she has superhuman powers? This would be a great benefit to her if we knew exactly who they came from and how she could master it. That's what you were thinking, right Natsume?"

"Nooooooo...I'm just curious on my heritage,"

"Oh," Touma's hyped up voice seemed to deflate at Natsume's reply. It was more likely he was the only one excited about Natsume having powers.

"That isn't a half bad idea actually," Whisper mused, rubbing his chin with his thumb and index finger, "that article talked about the offspring of mixed relationships often having extreme strength, intelligence, or magic,".

"Then it's settled,"

"We didn't even take a vote,"

"Ugh, ok. All in favor of finding Natsume's real dad, say aye,"

"Aye"

"Aye"

"Aye"

"Nay".

Everyone was flabbergasted by the extra voice that suddenly appeared. Turning around revealed it's owner.

Sitting on the kitchen counter, bottle of vodka in paw, was Jibanyan.

"What the hell are you doing in my house,"

Jibanyan simply shrugged his shoulders

"I break into you guys houses sometimes to work off my hangover or gain it without the police putting me in a drunk tank. I usually come which places I go to so you don't get suspicious."

"That...is creepy."

"Took the words right out my mouth."

Jibanyan looked indignant after the two teens gave him strange looks.

"Hey, I'm and old man, in cat years, and I deserve respect!"

"Yes, but I've been taking YOUR blame for my parents wine stash disappearing!"

It looked like another yokai-human fight was going to start before Natsume butted in.

"Jibanyan, first off, get the hell out of everyone's place without permission, second of all, why do oppose us finding my dad?"

The cat just shrugged his shoulders.

"I felt like doing it."

A collective sigh and facepalm came from everyone else in the room.

"OK, since we actually have full support for this, we can start the investigation. And I know just where to start..."

Akinori's house wasn't too much of a trek and the team got there fairly easily. The biggest problem that they had was trying to wake him up without his grandmother hearing them too.

They did the most sensible thing at this point and were calling him from Touma's cellphone. Sure, it looked suspicious because they were hiding behind a bush, but everyone thought it looked cooler.

"Ugh, he isn't picking up." Natsume grumbled. It had been the fifth missed call and no sign of Akinori.

"I don't know how someone can still be asleep at this poi-"

"Augh!"

Everyone turned to the sound to see the scene.

Akinori was leaning out the window, an angry expression on his face as he covered his eye with his hand. Below him, Jibanyan looked up at him with a couple of rocks in his paw.

"Jibanyan, what the hell!"

"I was throwing rocks at the window when he came out too fast for me to react!"

"Ugh, just get in already." Akinori's left the window. A few moments later, he opened the back door and waved for the group to come in. The teens and their ghost friends went into his house.

"Ah, OK what do you guys wa-" he stopped after seeing Natsume's new parts.

"Akinori, you might need to sit down; it's a long story."

(An awkward fifteen minutes later)

"Wow, that's pretty, uh, life changing, I'll say that."

"True. That's why we need your help."

"I'm gonna guess it's because I've got intimate knowledge of yokai?"

"Bingo."

The chubby boy let out a long sigh.

"Follow me. And walk lightly, my grandma is still sleeping."

"This," Aki pointed to the machine in his space-time bending closet, "is the Yo-Paternity Test 5000."

"Do you always have convenient yokai related items?" Whisper raised one eyebrow high.

"Yep. To start this, we'll need some blood. Um, Natsume, do have some blood just lying around..."

Natsume's face was now a light red.

"Aw geez, uh, well...I'm on my...period."

Akinori blushed too.

"I mean...you can, if you want."

"And I do."

Akinori's went one of the two thermos looking containers the machine and slid one of it's steel panels to the side. He took out a small plastic container with a lid engraved with words of "Insert Genetic Material Here".

"You can just take this to the bathroom and...ya know, do your thing."

"Thanks" Natsume grabbed the container and shuffled quickly to the bathroom.

The room was silent.

"Hey Akinori."

"Yeah Touma?"

"Do you have any Yo-Brain Bleach so I can get rid of that awkward scene?"

"Well, I ordered some off of Yokaimazon yesterday. It should come on Thursday."

"Or you could take these forget pills I found in the alley."

"Jibanyan, I'm not taking a roofie."

"A what?"

"I've got the stuff."

Natsume entered the room with the container, now filled with a deep red blood.

"Good! Now we can put it in the sensor chamber. Err, maybe I should get some gloves for this."

"Nah, I'll put it in for you."

She placed the container in the chamber an slid the panel closed.

"OK, here comes the fun part...that I need to read."

He brought out the manual from a compartment in the middle of the machine. Jibanyan gave an angry purr.

"Oh my god, you didn't read the damn thing!"

"First, watch your profanity, second, it wasn't like I expected you guys."

"Ugh, fine."

Everyone waited tentatively for Akinori to finish his reading.

"50 dollars that it was Kyubi." Jibanyan whispered to Natsume.

"What, why would you think that?"

"I dunno, ya kinda got some-"

"OK, this machine has two chambers for DNA from father and child. This middle part," he tapped the centrifuge like middle connecting the steel chambers, "will check for possible DNA matches that show who's genes you've got.

"To start, we'll obvious need dog yokai DNA. Hold on a sec."

The chubby boy speedily went through a bunch of boxes on the shed next to him until he found the one he was looking for.

"Ah yes, dog yokai blood samples."

"Why do you have blood sample of different yokai?"

"The less you know, the better."

"OK..." Touma scooted a bit away from the purple haired boy.

"Alright, first off is," he held up a vial of purplish blood, "Meremeraion!"

He poured a bit into another plastic container and slapped it into it's respective chamber. He pressed a button with a swirled design in the middle of the contraption. The screen above the centrifuge flickered to life in a hazy blue.

The whole machine gradually began to whir faster by the second until it almost seemed to shake. Anticipation radiated from the crowd. Collective thoughts and guesses filled the air with a heavy weight until one word appeared across the screen.

"Unrelated"

Natsume sighed in relief. She didn't want to be judgey, but if Merameraion was her dad, her mom's pelvis would have been obliterated.

"Oof," Akinori's sighed, reaching to replace the vial, "I guess Jinmenken is next." Everyone shuddered at the prospect of that.

And so began the tests for her heritage. From Komasan, Inumaro, Lucky, and even Urakyunta. All of them were negative.

"This is hopeless." Natsume muttered.

"Ay, why don't you guys take my suggestion." Jibanyan walked up to the vial box.

"You're suggestion?"

"Yeah, I said try Kyubi's vial. I'm 99 percent sure."

"And what's your proof of that?" Touma raised an eyebrow high.

"Look at her," he jumped up and pulled Natsume's face to his level, "she's got the face structure, the green eyes, and-and ya know they kinda knew each other, remember Whisper?"

Whisper sweated from being made the center of attention.

"Well, uh, yeah but-"

"See? Need I give more proof? Akinori, hit that shizzle up with that life liquid!"

Akinori shrugged his shoulders and gently took out a vial labeled "Kyubi". He poured a bit into a clean container and placed it into the compartment. The familiar whirring filled the room as Natsume and Jibanyan stared into the screen. Jibanyan thought about the fifty dollars finally to buy some good whisky and Natsume thought about if the alcoholic cat could be right for once.

Faster and faster it went, coming near it's climax. The pair's breathing became ragged and began to perspire greatly. Jibanyan's knuckles became even whiter as he clenched his fists in anticipation for the release.

It took a second. One second for the word to flash on the screen. But that words still shocked Natsume and overjoyed Jibanyan.

"Paternity Confirmed."

 **A/N: This was a doozy to write because I set a goal to write over 1500 words. It was worth it though. Probably gonna be a while til the next chapter, though. Oh well, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Remember to comment your thoughts.**


	4. An obstacle and an ally

"HELL FUCKING YEAH! Time to celebrate with some wining and maybe dining!"

Jibanyan pulled a fancy looking bottle of wine from his haramaki and began to swig the alcohol down while moonwalking. The rest of the group didn't share his enthusiasm.

Touma, Whisper and Akinori stared at the results with eyes as wide as dinner plates. It didn't seem real what the machine spat out, but it was. Proteins don't lie.

Natsume didn't even glance at the screen, though. She looked at the wooden floorboards beneath her and her knees above it. She wanted to deny everything she had just seen, say it was a mess up. But after all those tests, there couldn't be another answer. Now, Natsume was wrapping her mind around the situation and what she was going to do.

But, the silence was interrupted by a buzzing from her phone. Turning it on, she almost had a hernia from what she saw.

28 missed calls and 33 text messages. All from her mom and dad, her father having a few more calls than her mom. They all had the same subject of "where are you", but the single text she got from Keisuke scared her the most.

"Mom and Dad are REALLY pissed. I think you should come now before they come looking for you and drag you by the hair."

She got the message that it was time to skeedadle and threw her phone into her pocket before getting up to run home.

"Wait, Natsume!"

She turned around to Touma.

"What is it?"

"...Sorry for beating up your dad."

"...Ok, see ya." she ran out the door faster than any sprinter.

"Hhhhheeeey, *hic* wait up for me!" Jibanyan slurred out while running/staggering towards Natsume.

"Where have you been, young lady!"

Not even a foot away from the front door, Natsume was bombarded by her parent's angry glares and tone. Her mom had her hands on her hips and her father's arms were crossed. She definitely should have checked her phone.

"I was, uh...at Touma's house so I could hang out with him." She didn't feel like she was lying as it was a half truth, but it wasn't the whole deal.

"Natsume," her mother began, "Your father and I have no problem with your friends doing your little agency, but not at the crack of dawn AND not telling us where you are? We thought you were hurt or kidnapped!"

"But-"

"No buts, young lady," her father, ironically, butted in, "you're grounded for two weeks. No going to your club, just go to school and come home."

Natsume's eyes grew as wide as dinner plates. Her mouth opened to say something, but shut itself before she even could spit out a word. What could she say to defend herself? Her parents had a strong point and divulging more information would risk them finding out about her metamorphosis that even she didn't know would happen.

Her head hung low, she walked up to upstairs, her mother pointing to her room. Her steps were heavy like lead, a combination of her transformation, revelation, and punishment. Thoughts from today swam in her head as she came halfway up.

It had to be an affair or some kind of hookup, it just had to be. She couldn't imagine her, HER MOM, bumping uglies with that fox man. Her mom, the one who packed her lunches as a kid, helped with subjects she struggled with, listened to her days ups and downs, to cheat on her dad.

She passed a few photos in the hall, mostly of her and Keisuke doing different activities and different stages of life, but one made her do a double take.

It was a family photo, her at seven and Keisuke at five, sitting on their parents laps, Keisuke on Mom and her on Dad, all smiling, sans Keisuke who just looked annoyed. For a second, she swore her dad was replaced with Kyubi's lightside form.

Whenever Natsume got in trouble, Keisuke preferred to stay out of his parents heat. It was only afterwards when his sister had to go through with her punishment did he go to comfort her. Was it the cowards tactics? Yes. Did it ever move the heat to him? No.

So after he heard his sister getting verbally thrashed, he put down his giant mechanic manga to be there for her. He tiptoed out out while slowly closing his door. He saw her looking at a family photo, almost enraptured by its contents. She looked at it for a few moments before stuffing her hands in her pockets and slogging to her room. Keisuke frowned and he slowly made his way to her room as she slammed the door behind her.

Creaking it open a little and poking his head in, he was greeted by the sight of his big sister staring at one of her arks. Squinting, he surmised that it Kyubi's as he could see the shadowside design. He raised an eyebrow, wondering if this was related to her getting in trouble. Taking a deep breath, Keisuke stepped into her room.

"Heeeeeeeey, sis," he drawled, "how come Mom and Dad have beef with you?"

She slowly turned her head before taking a deep breath.

"Keisuke, pull up a chair for this one."

"Woah woah woah, so I was right about you being adopted?"

Natsume facepalmed.

"Why you-no, I'm not. I just know that one, I'm not human, and two... Dad isn't my dad."

She looked away as she said the last. It made her feel weird that all that time, she had a father that wasn't even related to her. Keisuke could see it in her eyes and decided to keep the conversation going.

"Hey, I get why you feel down, with all that Maury shit going on this morning, but-why didn't you even tell me, your brother, about the tail thing?"

"Keisuke, you know that whenever I give you secrets about myself, your fat flopping lip runs up to Mom and Dad. The only reason you haven't told them about the Agency it because you're intimidated by Micchy."

"That is not true!"

"Oh, hi Micchy, nice of you to show up."

"Augh!" Keisuke flipped around only to be greeted by a beautiful view from his sister's window. He whipped to her, a scowl on his face and a smirk on her's.

"Told ya."

"Aww, shut it. Anyways, what are you going to do with this information?"

Natsume's brow furrowed. She had a very loose plan of summoning him and breaking the news, but it seemed sorta...impersonal and in bad taste. But she had no idea where this guy lived and any other way to contact him. There was also her brother. Touma mentioned how traits either appeared at birth or at puberty, so it was possible he was a hybrid too. Maybe she should bring him too just in case. After a minute of ruminating, she pulled Keisuke closer and whispered that night's plan into his ear.

Tonight was going to be more drama filled, that was for sure.

 **A/N: Next chapter is the actual meeting, so stay tuned.**


	5. Midnight Stories

Midnight is known as the witching hour in most cultures. The time when ghouls and goblins and other spirits rise from their graves to cause havoc on the mortal world. Natsume saw or had heard of this ever happening.

The most action she ever saw at midnight was the one time Jibanyan came home drunk and flopped himself on top of her in a ball, crying into her comforter.

It was the most awkward four hours of her life.

But now was not the time to remember a memory she failed to repress; now was the time for meeting that needed to happen for thirteen years.

Midnight also meant her parents were definitely asleep and it was the time she agreed that Keisuke and her should meet up in the living room.

Hearing the muffled alarm under her pillow, Natsume discretely silenced it and slid out from her covers. A good thing about being half fox was the paw pads that softened your steps and your eyes being able to pick up trace amounts of light.

She walked on the balls of her feet, watching for creaky floorboards as she crept out of her room. She cringed as even as she it slowly and with velvet gloves, it still creaked long and slow. Looking at the end of the hall, she spotted her brother's figure in the darkness, walking slow like her. She waved a tail at him to get him to notice her. A thumbs up showed that he saw her.

Natsume went down first. For an odd reason, she automatically switched from a crouching position to a quadruple stance. When raising her heels up, they stuck, clicking even, when only her toes were on the floor. She didn't feel scared, only the familiar feeling of disconnection as she felt when the first transformation. Keisuke, on the other hand (or paw), looked horrified.

Yet they marched on, Natsume leading the way down. Once the both hit the floor, Keisuke whispered a question.

"What the hell was that?"

Natsume shrugged.

"I'm guessing another part of transformation. Now come on, the living room is right here."

"Ugh, fine."

"Did you bring your questions?"

"Eeyup."

Keisuke showed off his badly beaten notebook, the cover having "English" scrawled across in Sharpie.

"Good. Now that we have enough space," Natsume sat up in a squatting position, "time to summon."

"Wait!" Keisuke whisper/yelled, "don't the summonings usually make a lot of noise?"

"Yes, but I just found out how to lower the volume."

She manually opened the panels on the top of the watch and adjusted a small copper dial on the top right.

"There, it should only be a whisper now. Alright Keisuke," she took a deep breath, "Yokai Watch...summoning!"

"Light!" a whispery male's voice came from the machine. Natsume prepared the ark in her hand.

"Come on out my...my..."

"Friend." Keisuke finished for her.

"Kyubi!" as she quietly blurted out the last word, a light irradiated from the watch, not enough to light the room, but enough to cause a stretched shadow behind Natsume. A black and cloudy figure with yellow eyes emerged from the shadow, jumping to the front of the girl. When the scentless smoke cleared, it revealed a tall humanoid fox, clad in a purple kimono with a red obi. His fur was golden and the tips of his multiple tails tipped with indigo.

"Ky-" he was quickly shushed, prompting him to say his name much more hush.

It was a full half a minute of staring a silence before the kitsune broke it.

"So, uh...what did you call me for?" he inquired.

"Well, you see, ummm, I've been having 'things' going on-"

"Get to the point!" Keisuke interrupted. Natsume flicked his head.

"Anyways," she enunciated the words slowly, giving her little brother a stink eye, "it turns out...you're my, uh...dad."

Natsume looked away at the last, not believing that she said it out loud. She didn't the wide green eyes staring back at her, also in disbelief. Keisuke just looked back and forth at the two, confused in what is happening.

The pregnant pause would be of many that night. Again, it was Kyubi that birthed it.

"How do KNOW that's it's me, though?"

"Well, after finding out about this," she pulled back her long hair, exposing her pointed ears, and moving her tail so it was by her side, "I took a DNA test from Akinori and when he got to you...yeah."

"Oh god. Wait, was it the model 4000 or 5000."

"5000, I'm 99 percent sure."

"Oh god, you really are my kid."

He hovered back onto the ground, lost in thought.

"I think you made him short circuit, Nat." Keisuke said in a leaning whisper.

"I'm pretty sure he's just shocked."

"Well, should we do something? It's starting to creep me out."

Natsume crawled over and snapped her fingers near his maw.

"I-" his daughter clasped her hands around his jaw so he wouldn't make anymore noise. She unclasped once the guttural noises stopped.

"Sorry, I'm just...remembering when I was...'with' your mom."

"Ugh," Keisuke groaned, "I do not want to imagine my mom bang-oh my god, it's seemed in my mind!"

Natsume also groaned, not from disgust, but from her brother acting like a baby.

"OK, this may be a little inappropriate, but I kinda want to how you actually got together. I mean, Mom and Dad were married a few years before I was born."

"Yeah, yeah." he seemed to sigh out the words.

"It started like a lot things nowadays: the internet. I was lonely bachelor living by myself, few friends, studying in college, the whole shebang. It was then that I dabbled a bit in using private chats dedicated to quick hookups. Like I said, lonely guy in college with a good amount of free time.

"I went with a few girls here and there, it never lasted more than one meet-up. But it was your mother that really changed it all,"

He seemed to have nostalgic glint in his eyes as he said the sentence.

"She was so much more polite, kind, and beautiful than any other lady."

"OK," Keisuke said, covering his ears, "I'm not listening to you gross people any more."

"I didn't know she was married at first," Kyubi seemed to ignore Keisuke, wrapped in his own world, "I just saw, conquered, and came."

"OK, Natsume, I'm just going to bed, my fingers are not working." he got up and grumbled to his room.

"It was only when I dismounted from a session that I saw the ring on the nightstand did it click. Another thing I appreciated was her honesty. I asked about it and she flat out told me she was married. She also divulged to me that she was having this affair because, even though she did love Keita, he, her words, not mine, sucked ass in bed.

"Am I boring you?"

Natsume's head bounced up from her grogginess after she heard the familiar sentence.

"Oh-oh no, keep going."

Kyubi sighed and rested his head in his hands.

"I know I'm waxing over her, even after thirteen years, I still remember her...and miss her. Heh, maybe I should write that story down some time: it's a doozy."

Natsume stretched and yawned. Midnight might have not been the best time, but it had a nice aesthetic.

"Hey, Kyubi."

"Yes?"

"Maybe we can talk more tomorrow. You've been waxing about my mom for an hour and I'm kinda tired. Maybe we can talk tomorrow."

He looked a bit hurt, but still nodded.

"OK."

In a puff of smoke, he disappeared. Natsume felt like a big weight came off her chest from this meeting. But she somehow knew there was a bigger story to what he said. There was a big missing piece in her father's story.

How the hell did her mother pull it off as a full-time housewife?

OK, that wasn't really a good example, it was pretty obvious how she pulled it off. But still.

How was this chapter going to have a cliffhanger?

 **A/N: Yada yada yada, hope you enjoyed and please review.**


	6. Husk of the Cocoon

Natsume: Be Kyubi

Kyubi had no idea why that narration popped into his head. Maybe it was from the conversation from a few hours ago or maybe he was just insane. Probably the latter.

He was teleported from the Amano (That stung him a little) household to his little home and he still felt like shit. He tried to take a catnap to bring in more energy and to also feel less like shit, but of course, it failed. It was just his usual routine of lay in bed, stare at the ceiling, toss and turn until he slid to the floor and spend half an hour wondering how much his life was worth until he slipped into a dreamless sleep.

Tonight was not much different, actions-wise. But thought-wise, there were things new and repressed, rising from the pool cover he stapled to the ground long ago.

Being in their house, HER house, brought up many emotions. Ones that refused to be suffocated under the pillow of denial.

He still loved her. No matter how many times he told himself he wasn't, no matter how many other women (or men) he saw, none of them could compare to Fumika.

When she told him that she was married, he felt proud for repressing that feeling of being crushed like an egg.

Secretly, Kyubi wanted more than the banging. His heart felt more than the rush of endorphines from the climax; he felt genuine attraction.

That's why when Fumi told him she wanted to end their relations out of the blue, he had to bite down on his tongue and text back that he understood. And he did. Anyone who cheated on a spouse nine out of ten times felt guilty about their actions.

It should have just ended there, two strangers, knowing little about each other, walking away and never seeing each other again. It should have, even with his long lasting attraction to her, should have ended that way.

But along came Natsume, his daughter apparently. She makes him remember and revive those emotions, ones he had not felt for years.

His heart said to take a second chance because everyone had one, but his mind knew the faults. What would he do? Whisk her off her feet like some sort of fairy tale princess and take her away to their happily ever after? She was a married women with a husband who loved her as much as she loved him. Kyubi was just a burnt out husk of a fox, never to see the light of a family or others that cared for him.

He was alone in this world.

His thoughts were interrupted as a pillow fell on top of his face. The soft feathers made him sneeze, but he made no attempt to pull it off. None of his muscles wanted to move and he was fine with that. Kyubi just wanted to rot away.

No.

I'm not going to die, a small part of his mind thought, not without doing something first.

He was surprised that in his grey matter, there still was a bit of fighting chance left.

You are not alone and hopeless, it continued, you still have someone in your life who isn't passive aggressive.

"And who would that be?" he thought out loud.

Natsume. She still cares for you. Didn't you see it in her eyes, that twinkle?

Kyubi did in fact see that. There was something there, almost if she was trying to say, nonverbally, that she wanted him...in her life.

Kyubi never thought or had people wanting him in their lives, and yet here he was, astounded that this innocent girl wanted a bum like him to be with her.

The tears stinging his eyes were absorbed into the pillow.

It was one that night, before he fell asleep, Kyubi made a conviction to himself that he would at least be good, no, GREAT, role model to Natsume. **A/N: Really short chapter, but I wanted to show why Kyubi does a lot of things later in the story.**


	7. Setting it up

The first thing Natsume did when she got home march up to her bedroom, pick up one of her pillows, and screamed into it, pushing it closer to to her face as the volume rose before dropping it down when she was done.

School sucked that day. Not only was she trapped at home for another mcfriggin week, Saki had been sick with a flesh eating virus and literally could not come to school. It was pretty bad case, too. There was a big pit in her right leg where muscles should have been. Everyone had been on edge when some jackass spread a rumor that she caught it from someone else. Even though this made no sense and a simple Google search could show you it was complete bull, her classmates had been very distant from each other, avoiding contact to the point where almost no one talked to each other under fear it was airborne.

Natsume was left alone in her seat then, listening to the lessons while feeling alone.

It just sucked ass.

Well, at least she could still call Touma and Akinori. Her parents haven't taken away her phone rights, so she could still keep in touch with them. From what they told her, it seemed like people were dying without any grudges as there was literally no activity.

She was considering calling Touma to vent about another boring day, but decided doing her homework first would be a better idea. Natsume had been on the best behavior as she could muster as she thought this might convince her parents to release her on good behavior. Keisuke probably looked at her like she was a Brady Bunch kid, but she didn't care.

As she went over to the discarded, her phone began to buzz and flash. Digging it out of her bag, it showed that unknown number was calling her. Ugh, she thought, telemarketers. Natsume answered anyways just so she could hang up.

"Yes?"

"Hey, um...geez, I should I just call you by your name. It'd be weird to call you 'pumpkin'."

Now, Natsume was weirded out. Here she was, being called by Kyubi (she didn't feel comfortable calling him "Dad" yet), trying to call her a dad nickname.

Needless to say, it was surreal.

She plopped down on her bed before speaking much quieter.

"How did you get my number?"

"It's posted on your detective website."

Natsume mentally kicked herself for not reading the legal papers Akinori gave to her before she signed it. This also made her regret not reading the terms and conditions of various sites she's been on.

"Well...why are you calling me?"

"Oh...you don't like me then?"

"No!" Natsume covered her mouth after realizing how loud she was, "I mean, no. It's not that I don't like you, it's ju-just I don't know you very well. And I feel like...you aren't acting...very fatherly."

Both sides were silent for a moment. There was bit of... sniffling in the background?

"Well...why don't we try to connect over something? Like a father and daughter?"

His voice, void of it's usually proud and soft tone, seemed desperate and cracked on some of the vowels.

She regretted saying what she said, but it was true. It had only been a week since she and him found out and she had thankfully found out suppressing her emotions, mostly the stressful ones, made the new look recede her back into a normal girl.

But still.

That wasn't a healthy way to live.

And he was nowhere to be seen while this happened. Natsume didn't want to think or say that he was a shitty dad, but there weren't many positives to go on.

Actually, his proposal wasn't a bad idea. Natsume thought that if she didn't know him enough to see him as a father, this would be a chance to connect. Or, at the very least, kill some time.

"Well...I'd like to do that. But probably in a week or two, I'm grounded from leaving the house."

"Oh, don't worry about that; I can pull some strings in that."

His voice seemed to raise a pitch after she agreed to the meeting. Natsume raised an eyebrow at his statement, but shrugged it off. He was a master of illusions.

"Alright. Is there a specific place you want to go or, uh, where?"

He began to list down a location and she scrambled for a pen and paper before copying it down.

"Ok then. Tomorrow? Well, I could probably see you from 3 to 6, depending on how much work I've got. Alrighty then, see ya later, bye."

Hanging up the phone, Natsume heard the familiar pitter patter on paws against floor and her door opening. In came Jibanyan, looking ready to blackmail.

"So," he began slowly, "I see you've got meeting tomorrow."

"Cut the crap, Jibanyan. You just want me to get you some more liquor illegally. Ask Touma this time."

"But he banned me from his house."

"Ugh, fine. I'll pick some up tomorrow evening."

"Yas!"

 **A/N: Another short chapter, but i wanted to set up the next chapter's, which will be longer, events. Remember to leave your thoughts in the comments!**


	8. Pecking at the Shell

Natsume felt pretty good that afternoon coming home from school. Even the crushing loneliness of isolation couldn't keep her from humming the tune of "Africa" as she walked home.

She actually pretty excited to finally get out of the house and stretch her legs. She should have been excited about seeing her long lost father, like most chick flick heroines, but she was just...unsure about that.

Sure, they met that week ago, but the whole conversation reeked of awkward tension.

Natsume wondered if today would have that too.

Speaking of Kyubi, she wondered what strings he was pulling to get her to go out and about, but she guessed she would have to brace herself when she opened the door to her house. She was pretty close to her house and she could already feel the magical energy. She took a deep breathe in as she rounded the corner brick wall.

Natsume stopped at the little stone path leading to her front door, where her mother and brother awaited her arrival. She took another deep breathe as she put one foot in front of the other and walked up to and in the door. The scene was the same as usual. Mom was in the kitchen taking out the trash while Keisuke was cornea deep into his history book. Nothing at all was out place.

Nothing in her general line of sight.

"Ay Mum."

"Hi sweetie, hold that thought." her mom replied as she swung open the back door.

"What's up bro."

"Heian Period."

"Eh, I remember doing that. Need any help?"

"Nah, I'm just. Bored."

"Yeah. Well, I'm going upstairs if you need me."

She got no reply as she quietly slicked up the steps. She was still uneasy for some reason. Everything didn't seem right. The spirit activity, her heritage, going up the mcfriggin steps.

Once her socks hit solid wood, her yo-senses began tingling. And it pointed to her room.

Why did all the mystical shit have to go in HER room? Was Keisuke's that messy?

She pushed that down as she pussyfooted across the hallway, imagining what prize was behind door number one.

Handling the knob like it was bomb, Natsume slowly turned it and pushed.

It wasn't a person, nor was it an object she was greeted by.

It was instead a yokai, about as large as a Saint Bernard with the body of a baby elephant.

Their body was a dark purple, with the area below the hips being a lavender. Sharp teeth glistened in their smiling mouth.

"Uhhhhhhh."

"Oh, yes, forgive Baku for the awkward silence. Ahem, Baku is Baku. Nice to meet you."

Balu moved their trunk in gesture similar to offering a handshake. Natsume shook it with her shaky palm.

"Umm, I'm assuming Mr.Kyubi sent you?"

"Oh yes, Kyubi say he want me to emulate Natsume for the night."

"E-emulate?"

"Yes, emulate. Baku show you."

In a cloud of smoke, the elephant like yokai changed from their form into a bipedal one. One that looked exactly like Natsume, down to even the small scar above her eyebrow where she fell off her bed at eight.

A shiver went down her spine as she looked. It was like looking into a mirror, but the image was tangible.

"That's...creepy."

"Creepy? Yes. Effective? Yes. Baku don't want to be pushy, but Baku think you should spend as much time out there as possible."

A gleam came into their hazel eyes as they licked their lips.

"Baku given very moist dreams to do this and Baku will work for it."

It seemed something unpleasant came up as their smile turned to a shuddering frown.

"But... Baku have hard time suppressing all that stuff about your mother."

"Wait, what?"

"Anyways," they butted in, "enjoy yourself out there. Leave this all to Baku."

With a snap of the fingers, Natsume was enveloped in smoke as she was transported outside her house. She coughed up the harming smoke for a moment before composing herself.

Taking the crumpled piece of paper out of her uniform, Natsume read the directions she jotted down yesterday before folding it back up and shoving it in her pocket.

She would ask Kyubi about the mother dreams.

His meeting place one of the major chick flick cliches: a momma freaking coffee shop. More specifically, the fancy one with really good green tea. It was positioned between an abandoned warehouse that had twenty people killed in a freak accident and an ancient burial ground, so there weren't many people there.

So when she finally got to her destination, it was easy to point out her father in his human form. He was the only blonde in a three hundred mile radius.

Natsume was expecting a more dadlike outfit. Something with more cheesiness, maybe Crocs with socks or a Hawaiian shirt. He was actually dressed quite classy.

He wore a purple long sleeved polo with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His shorts, pressed to perfection were above not sandals or Crocs, but instead a pair of brown Oxford's. The only cheesy part were his white knee length socks, two red stripes around the circumference of the top.

This was probably a good sign. Probably.

Unclenching her sweaty fists, Natsume walked up to the Kitsune. He turned his head and when he saw her, waved her over to his table.

"Oh hey Natsume, I see you actually...came."

"Yeah, I did. May I have this seat?"

"Of course."

"Thanks."

Natsume pulled out one of the wire chairs and placed herself in it.

Kyubi was elated that Natsume actually came. It was silly to think she had stood him up the moment he got there.

The table looked like it wouldn't move an inch as he gripped it with sweaty palms. Perspiration slid down his nose and mouth.

If younger him saw how nervous he was, he would have thought it was a horrible dream. Kyubi was not the type to show fear or vulnerability around others. Vulnerability showed weakness and people could use that weakness to hurt you or your loved ones.

But he...was Natsume a loved one? She was his daughter, after all. That he barely knew.

Stop being so negative, he thought to himself, you set up this meeting so you could connect. Just make the best out of it and talk to her!

"So how isssss school going?"

"Well, it's fine. Doing my work, getting A's and B's, waiting for my friend to recover from her flesh eating virus."

"Soooooooo...same old?"

"Yep."

At least they were starting off...strong? He didn't think that word fit. 'Strong' would imply that it was a good start. Well, maybe he should bring up something.

"What about out of school, any interesting things in your detective agency?"

"Nah, it's actually been pretty still. It's kinda weird, though. Every week, there was some sort of problem, and now...poof."

She a clenched fist go into an open hand to imitate and explosion. Kyubi thought back to his preparations for the date. He had scanned the area for any people and animals dying with unfinished business or inanimate objects getting angry for some weird ass reason. His way of getting them to calm down and not cause for any, especially Natsume, was to give him therapist's card.

It always worked.

"Yes, that does sound VERY peculiar." He said with a grin.

"And another thing," she said, "I haven't Micchy in a while. Now that I think about it, I haven't seen Whisper and Junior too."

Kyubi began to think back on him fixing up that perverted bastard.

Even in his large Shadowside form, Micchy was still thrown into a canyon wall by the large Shadowside fox.

"YOU PERVERTED LITTLE SHITHEAD!" Kyubi began with a roar, "I'VE SEEN THE WAY YOU ACT AROUND NATSUME, LIKE SHE'S YOUR LITTLE TOY!"

He emphasized "toy" by picking him up and throwing him against the wall again. This caused him to turn back into his smaller muscular Lightside form, shivering with fear.

"Now listen," his green eye almost pressed against the muscle man's head, " I do not want to see you around her unless you've cleaned yourself up. If you even touch a hair on her head I WLL TEAR YOUR EYES OUT, SHOVE THEM UP YOU-" he didn't finish his sentence as saw the yokai slip out of his grip into the waters below. He was swimming faster than humanly possible into the opposite direction.

The kitsune looked up at the others who had followed. The fat marshmallow named Whisper looked at him like a deer in the headlights before sprinting, at least what he thought was sprinting, away.

The only soul left was the red little ghost cat, who gave him a look of boredom.

"You aren't scared?"

"Nah, not really. I'm just going to use this opportunity to take a trip to Disneyland."

As he began to leave, Kyubi interrupted him.

"Wait!"

"What?"

"Will you send me a postcard?"

"...sure."

"I hope they're fine."

Kyubi was snapped out of his memories at Natsume's remark.

"I'm sure they'll be fine."

"How do you know that they will be?"

"Well...sometimes people need to take...breaks from others."

"Taking breaks from friends? That's a first."

"To you, it is, Natsume. For others, it is a needed event. You see-"

"Hey," an impatient waitress with burrowing brown eyes interrupted the conversation, "are you two going to order something? If not, you've gotta leave."

Kyubi grimaced at the rude lady before replying.

"I'll have a water. What do you want Natsume?"

"Water, also."

"Ok, I'll be back in bit." She ended her sentence with a huff before walking back into the shop. Kyubi stuck his tongue out when her back was turned.

Natsume giggled at his action. Kyubi felt a bit happy at her finally smiling. It was quite cute to see her sharp canines. Probably from his mum's side; his father's were only good for chewing through soft meats such as fish.

"Anyways, where was I? Well, friends are a focal point in your life. Hell, if you never had any, you'd go nuts. But at the same time, there are points and little events where people need alone time. When alone, it's just you and your thoughts, mingling with each other and processing what has and will happen. Sometimes, people don't make the best decisions, and it is YOU who has to find the solution to a problem."

Silence. No one spoke for a solid fifteen seconds. Natsume listened to the soft breeze, processing the lecture she had just heard.

"Sorry, I kinda went off on a tangent there." Kyubi rubbed the back of his blonde head sheepishly.

"Well, you kind of did, but...I thought that was pretty deep."

"Thanks," he shrugged his shoulders, "I used take Philosophy in college. I sometimes go into deep tangents about life and such. It's just ingrained in me."

"Cool, cool." She stirred her untouched water with the plastic straw. This bonding was getting late. Her phone clock already said it was five.

"I know you want to leave."

Her eyes came up from the phone screen. Kyubi was looking down into his glass, his face propped up by his arm leaning on the black table.

"I have to. I mean, my parents probably will-"

"Natsume," looked her in the eyes, "I know this is a total flop. I apologize for wasting your time."

With a sigh, he got out of his chair and pushed it in.

"Here," he handed her a crisp set of yen, "I know the cheap bastards will charge you for even water. Keep the change."

He turned around to walk away before Natsume got up.

"Wait!" Kyubi turned around, "Look, maybe our first impressions didn't go well, but...I personally think you're a cool dude. I just think were rushing this.

"I feel like we should work up from acquaintances, to friends, to...what I'm trying to say is that we don't we just be friends first. Ok?"

Kyubi did his best not to look too excited, but Natsume knew if his tails were out, they'd be wagging.

"S-sweet! Nice."

"Well, you know my number, so call me anytime."

She got out her chair before depositing the needed cash in the middle of the table. As she waved goodbye to her new friend/father, she thought about what had just transpired. Kyubi was a totally different person around others. What had happened to him to make him so sad?

She felt bad for her aloofness to him; the poor guy just wanted to connect with her. He was very hyped to know about her and she was just cold back. Kyubi was very open about things and showed the part of him no one else had seen in him.

She would definitely be more open the next time they met.

 **A/N: OOF, this was a long one! I didn't meet my 3000 word quota, but maybe a chapter in the future will meet that. Anyways, remember to leave your thoughts in the comments.**


	9. A Story or Two

Natsume didn't really to bother those around her with her problems. She thought that this was just dumping your garbage on others, which was a shitty thing to do, and telling them to clean it up. If her house was dirty, she would do it by hand, even if someone offered to help. She just couldn't let others help her with her problems.

But, everyone had a limit. And Natsume's limit was Keisuke asking her for the thirty-ninth and half (she counted down to his unintentional implication) time if she had her fire powers yet.

It a benign question, but compounded with everything else, it was just too much.

On that agreeable Saturday afternoon, Natsume decided she wasn't having any more of this annoying stuff. She was going to fix this today.

Kyubi looked up from his book as the three heavy knocks rang from his front door. He was bit confused as he wasn't expecting anyone at this time. Not even a package.

Suspicion kicked in as he pussyfooted across the room and into the hallway. The door was at the end of the hall, connecting the small room that was supposed to hold everyone's shoes. Three more raps, this time more aggressive. The kitsune snapped his fingers and a little flame sprang from the pores on his pads. If any hostile person tried to break in, they'd be blasted back to the hell they crawled out of.

Kyubi made his way quickly, his free hand resting on the knob. He took in a deep breath and let it out before opening quite fast.

Instead of some thug or the IRS, he was instead greeted by the face of his daughter, face emanating deep annoyance.

"O-oh, hi Natsume, didn't expect you," he chuckled nervously before snuffing out the flame, "what brings you around here?"

"Look, I need som-may I come in?"

"Of course." He stepped out of the way so she could walk in.

"Thank you. Anyways, I need your help, bad."

Kyubi's ears again perked up high with worry. Worst case scenarios trickled through his brain.

"What's going on? Are you being bullied? Did your house burn down? Did Micchy-"

The brunette sighed softly as she removed her first shoe.

"No no, it's not any of those. Plus, still haven't see Micchy around. It's weird; Jibanyan and Whisper came back, but not even summoning can bring Micchy back. Hmm."

She shrugged her shoulders as she ended the sentence.

"It's actually...a few reasons. You might wanna sit down for this one. Also, bring some coffee, but no decaf. It's going to be pretty long."

"Ok, lay it me."

The duo was sitting at the redwood table. Natsume thought that a house that resided in the fourth dimension looked weirdly normal. It looked very nondescript, with your average White Walls and wooden floor, polished to perfection. Even the tiles looked hand polished. She guessed that yokai, or kitsune at least, had a lot of free time.

Kyubi himself was dressed more casually. Gone was the purple kimono and wooden sandals; he instead wore a pressed black shirt with a set of jeans white socks. His clothes looked like they were molded from some stiff material as no wrinkles could be seen even as he moved. Then again, fourth dimension. Some rules of gravity and physics didn't apply here.

There were observations to make, but Natsume needed to do something about these things now. Small talk could wait.

"Oh gosh, where do I even start?"

"At the beginning."

"Hah. Well, it's actually several things."

She took a sip of the black brew before beginning.

"The biggest offender-or offenders, in this case-is the pestering. Ever since my brother and friends found out about my heritage, Keisuke and Touma have been prodding me to utilize my fire powers. Touma has some restraint and isn't so pushy, but Keisuke..."

"Hello my wonderful sister-"

"No."

"I didn't even finish my sentence!"

"You've been pestering me for the last week about my fire powers. I've said it once and I'll say it again: it will come when it comes."

Keisuke's body slumped as he walked away.

"Oh no, my microwave burrito is so cold! How will I ever HEAT it up?"

He brown eyes pointed in Natsume's direction as he held the cold sack of meat and preservatives in front of her face. Natsume didn't flinch.

"The microwave is in the kitchen. You have working legs, right?"

Even at the spot that seemed safest, the bathroom, she wasn't safe. As she layed down her towel and pajamas on the toilet seat and opened the curtain, she saw the message carved in the soap.

"Fire. Just fire. Pwease?"

"Yeah, I'd see why that would be annoying. It's things like those that I'm grateful for being an only child."

"Hm. There's also...how do I put this?"

She rubbed her cheeks and upper lip.

"There's also the...facial hair."

The three out of four members of the family and the dining room table went silent and stopped eating their breakfasts. Keisuke's mouth was agape, eggs hanging out as he stared at his sister. His parents kept their mouths closed but couldn't look away either.

Natsume was blissfully unaware of these looks as she chowed down. When looking up, it was revealed what everyone was looking at. Across her jaw and upper lip was fuzzy dark hair, barely sprouted out.

She looked as confused as everyone else.

"What? Do it have some food stuck on my face?"

"Well, I can't say I'm surprised, honestly. You are half fox, after all."

"Ugh, I know. But it's like every three days I have to shave my whole body down."

"Well, I have package of industrial grade razors if you want. Those things can cut through hard plastic AND hair."

"Eh, I'll take a few, if you don't mind."

"Not at all."

"Ok. What else was there? Oh yeah...the resistance."

"And so I said-"

"Oh my God!"

Natsume didn't know why Kawai looked so shocked at her resting her arm on the table.

"What happened?"

"Yo-you don't feel it?!"

She pointed at her elbow and Natsume saw that it was resting upon one of the Bunsen burners. That was lit.

"Oh."

She lifted her arm off the fire, unscathed by the licking heat. This did not calm Kawai.

"What the hell, why aren't you looking at your surroundings? You could have been seriously injured!"

"But I wasn't! That's the thing! I don't feel the fire or heat anymore. It's worrying everyone around me."

"Sigh. I can't change that, Natsume. You just need to look before you stick your body part anywhere."

"Yeah...well, there's also-"

"Not another word, my darling. You've already shown me that you need guidance with your powers and quirks. But fear not!"

His stood up quickly and layed a paw on her shoulder.

"I, The Great And Powerful KYUBI, as your father and friend, SHALL HELP YOU WITH THESE TROUBLING TIMES!"

Natsume shrunk a bit from his voice. Kyubi's deep voice and volume gave off the impression of someone important. A teacher, perhaps, or a master? Either way, she knew he was going to put his hundred and ten percent into helping her. She bit her lip a little. Natsume felt bad taking time away from him to help her.

But, at the same time, he had a lot of time to spare.

Still...

"Although we shan't start today, I'll tell you this." He squatted down so his face was on her level.

"Meet me here at my home everyday when you have the time and I will be there for our TRAINING!"

He clenched a fist at training and pumped it in the air.

"Ok?"

"O-ok."

 **A/N: wooo, this one is shorter, but a lot better than the chapter I posted before. Please comment your thoughts and have a good day!**


	10. LET'S GATHER AROUND THE CAMPFIRE AND

"Ask me 'Are we there yet' one more time and I'll drop you off in the middle of no where."

Keisuke reeled a bit in his seat from his half-sister's biting comment.

"I didn't ask it that, geez."

"You've said that same sentence almost seventy-eight times!" She growled back.

"I'm just curious."

Natsume facepalmed. Don't get Natsume wrong, she loved her brother Keisuke deeply, but at the same time, he was a little brother. He was pushy, annoying, and a bit bratty sometimes. He was definitely was showing all those traits this morning.

She didn't originally plan to bring him to Kyubi's place. She had planned it out the night before by calling Touma. She told him about what she was doing the next few weeks and she needed him to tell her parents that she was at the detective "club", as her dad called it, while she was gone. He agreed to do it and seemed excited for her. She thought. Sometimes with Touma it was hard to tell his emotion as his voice didn't usually rise or fall too much when he talked. Though, it had been cracking recently.

She had to lower and turn up the volume on her phone at some points because it went from his usual low and monotone voice that squeaked a little to a something more baritone in quality.

She was kinda glad she wasn't a guy at some times.

That afternoon after school seemed like it would go flawlessly as she was preparing to depart.

And then Keisuke walked in.

He was so sheepish with everything else when he needed to suck it up, but at the ONE point, the single time he needed to be a little less curious, he was.

And she couldn't lie her way out like every other time because there was too much evidence. She was taking a goddamn book about foxes and kitsune shit with her; of course that raise red flags to even a box of wood, considering the circumstances.

And somehow, he knew how to blackmail. He said he was going to tell Mom and Dad that she was seeing someone.

She made a mental note to kick his ass where Dad, and especially Mom, couldn't see them. Usually, the father was the one to pull out the leather from the little loops in the jeans of dress pants and begin the work, but her mother was the one who did corporal punishment. And she hit hard.

But not on the bus and definitely not at someone elses house. That'd just be rude.

And now here they were, floating around in the void filled with colors, buildings with unconventional shapes like hexagons and trapezoids, and various eyes and mouths on these buildings and yokai doing their daily business.

After a few minutes, they were what could be called into the country area. Natsume surmised this as there was more oddly shaped Flora than oddly shaped buildings.

"If your stop is here, please get off." The humanoid driver rang out as the bus stopped the at where they needed to go.

"C'mon, here's our stop." Natsume shook Keisuke awake as he was half asleep.

They stepped off and watched as the only normal looking thing in this plane, the brown bus, disappeared into the into the pink fuzz of the distance.

"Where the hell are we? It's like we're in a kids cartoon."

"Stop complaining and just follow me."

"Ugh."

"Hey, it wasn't my idea to bring you here. If I had it my way, your but would have still been home, safe."

"You think I'm going to be dumb enough to get into the line of fire?"

She seemed to pause for a second, thinking of the best thing to say so it didn't hurt Keisuke's too much. She shook her head when she couldn't see an option that was polite enough.

"Nevermind, just follow me."

He obliged begrudgingly.

Kyubi simply brimming with excitement that hadn't been matched since his third birthday, which was was the last one he had spent with his mother when she was alive.

His backyard had been weeded (of what little nuisances there were) and cleared anything that could hurt her if anything went wrong.

He had also set up a little table with bottles of water and healthy snacks if Natsume wanted to take a break.

All he had to do now was to wait at the doorstep for her.

A little side effect of this increase in energy was he was bit more jumpy and just couldn't sit down for her. He stayed in the vicinity, but was walking around a bit in his front yard, hands stuffed in his pockets.

He was mindlessly kicking a good sized pebble when he saw a figure in the distance. Actually, two figures, the smaller one trailing behind.

He didn't think it was her at first, as he expected her to come alone, but as the duo came in closer, Kyubi could see it was indeed his daughter.

And her half brother.

He groaned. Ok, he didn't hate Keisuke at all. Hate was a strong word you usually reserved for someone you definitely wouldn't regret burning their house down. He just...disliked him. He tried to treat everyone nicely and keep a straight face when the slop of shit ran from their mouths, but God. That boy was just so ANNOYING.

And he was going to be there for a few hours?

He made a mental note to take some money out today for some stronger liquor.

"Hey, we're here!" Natsume called out when she was in her father's hearing distance.

"Afternoon, Natsume. If I may ask, why is your brother here?"

"Ugh, I had to drag him along because he was being a little shit."

"Hmm?"

"He walked in on me getting prepared and demanded to go with me."

"Sigh. Keisuke, just stay far away from the action. We're definitely going to do stuff that might cause death or least third degree burns...so yeah."

Her brother turned pale and gulped before giving the thumbs.

"Alright," Kyubi started in his more flamboyant voice, "we are going to start this off in my yard. So if you don't mind..."

With a snap of his fingers, the kitsune vanished into thin air.

The siblings then heard a voice from the backyard.

"Go around the back."

"Man, you've got a nice yard."

"Thank you! I spent most of most of night fixing up, so that means I've gotten about two collective hours of sleep."

"That...sounds unhealthy."

"Yep..."

The conversation went silent between the father and daughter as Natsume took in the scenery. The place was lush with every shade of green you could imagine. It was probably thrice the size of the yard at her house and cared for much more professionally. She thought it might have been done by a crew, but it was more likely Kyubi did it due to his amount of free time.

In fact, what did he do for a living? Did he pull this house and yard out of hammerspace or did he have a nine to five that payed well?

These thoughts were brushes away as she took off her backpack.

"So, I've brought a whole bunch of texts and stuff that I think will help with our lessons."

Natsume pulled out books of various thickness, from factual to mythological, all based around foxes and kitsune.

Kyubi picked up the stack and scrutinized it before making the stack vaporize out of the area.

"But-"

"Don't worry, I brought them back to your home, but you don't need them. I can guarantee that I can provide you of all that info and more. Especially... biologically..."

He shuddered at the thought of explaining the much rougher birds and bees kitsune had.

"But that will be the next lesson, along with transformation. Our afternoon shall be filled me gauging your endurance to several things, such as heat intensity, reflexes and that stuff of the sort. Think fast!"

 **A/N: Another long one. I'll try to make the next almost as long as this or more. Remember to review!**


	11. OUR C A M P I R E S O N G SONG

Natsume didn't even have time to process the few remaining words of her father's sentence before an orange of fire, about half her size, was flung at her, aiming for the head. Nor did she have time to panic before a deepseeded need to not die painfully kicked in.

Or, it least it attempted to.

Years of not being used made that survival part of her brain a bit rusty at doing it's job.

So, instead of making a fluid dive straight for the ground, Natsume instead did the half assed version of ducking in which she just squatted and covered her face.

It took only a second after doing the pitiful excuse for an evasion did she feel her body make contact with the blistering ball.

Instead of being ongoing and moving anymore once it hit Natsume, the gaseous inferno instead stopped dead in it's tracks, evenly being a warm enough temperature to cause second degree burns.

The watch holder expected to be eaten up by the bonfire as it engulfed.

But she didn't get burned to a crispy piece of human spam. In fact, she didn't even feel the heat at first. After a few seconds, she began to feel it a bit more. But only a bit, feeling more like it was a sunny day instead of one hundred and fifty degrees and up of blistering heat. She could feel it rising up fast, probably 5 degrees a second. She passed the time waiting for this inferno to actually become hot by listening to her father and brother talking.

"Jesus Jenny! What the hell are you doing to her!"

"Kid, she'll be fine, she's half kitsune. Our bodies can naturally handle the heat. To a point. That's why I'm trying to test the waters with Natsume. I don't wanna go overboard later and accidentally burn or, God forbid, kill her."

A quiet gulp could be heard from Keisuke.

"Hey Natsume," Kyubi called out, "how do you feel? Any burning sensations?"

"Erm, no, not really. It feels more like a warmish day."

"Ok. If you feel any pain, tell me or do something that indicates it."

"Got it."

Natsume moved to a sitting position for comfort while the flames roared on. She glad she left her phone in her backpack, as now it would've been melted in the palm of her hand, but at the same time she was a bit...bored. She never thought she'd think that when she was literally being burned.

Then again, she was half kitsune, and they could easily handle this. And she herself could handle things that would usually kill others. Stress, food poisoning, stress, getting chased by dogs, stress, stress...

The thoughts of the forbidden S-word were pushed out quickly. She didn't need to think about that now. That thought of it just overwhelming her was... overwhelming in recent times. Yet Natsume still pushed it off. She had helping other for years now, taking a piece of their burden with her. She has been the one to fight for others, defend them, listen to them. And all of that would come crumbling down because some insignificant part of her psyche was doubting her work and wanting her to get "help"? No, she wasn't going for that at-

OWOWOWOWOW, SHIT SHIT SHIT! The flames were probably at a point to melt stuff like iron and they were beginning to give Natsume a superficial, but still painful, first degree burn. Her skin flared up into an angry red color. Now, most people when in the process of getting a first degree burn would scream in agony or try to get help. And Natsume did exactly both. But, the part of her mind keeping her from seeking professional help for her unhealthy emotion bottling tried to stifle this at first. Best to not bother others. Fortunately, she more animalistic ID in her quickly punched that idea out the window and made Natsume scream "OW, FUCKING, OW!".

"HOLY SHIT!" she heard her brother cry out. Natsume could hear him running to her, but suddenly stopping. It was at that moment when he stopped that she was instead swallowed up by a course blanket around her body. The flames were quickly snuffed out and Natsume returned to normal temperature.

Even if the rough blanket and sudden cold air hurt her now sensitive skin, the teen was thankful that the fire was finally gone.

Looking up, she saw her father's green eyes looking down at her, tinted with a cocktail of worry, relief, and disbelief.

"Natsume...we need to talk inside."

Kyubi's bathroom was the epitome of the saying "clean enough to eat off of.".

The white tiles, tub, sink and toilet all glistened in the overhead light, no spot of dirt or anything could be seen on them.

But she wasn't eating anything now, much less on the bathroom floor, despite it's cleanliness. She instead now was rubbing handful after handful of aloe vera lotion upon her burnt skin. The cooling green gel soothed the pain that stretched across her body.

Keisuke was now in the living room, waiting for her come out. Kyubi was outside door also waiting and to do another check up if needed.

She didn't want to face him now. Not after the face he gave her after the burning. No words could match the...the...

It was hard to describe it. It was his eyes that communicated a feeling. A feeling of... scrutiny? Transparency? A mix of both?

No matter that words to describe it, she knew that those eyes could cut through her mind and see more about her. They could probably even see how she lied. For the better, of course. Of course.

"Hey, umm, Natsume."

"Yes?"

"I'm so sorry."

Natsume stiffened up as she slathered the stuff on her leg.

"What do you mean?"

"I saw you squirm when it got hotter. I thought you were just adjusting yourself at first, but no. You were in pain. God, I'm so sorry."

"No, it's not your fault, don't blame yourself."

"But I do!"

His fist slammed against the floor outside.

"You could've have been burned up to ash and I didn't notice! You could've been scarred for life or seriously injured! I take this seriously because your my daughter and I care about you!"

"Kyubi...no."

"Huh?"

"No, acted like I was just adjusting my position because...I thought I could handle it. I thought that toughing it out was normal."

"But it's not."

"I know. I'm just always used to toughing out the flames because I know I'm a resilient person."

"Even in pain?"

"Yep."

A few moments of silence passed as Natsume began on the left leg.

"That's...that's not good."

 **A/N: Idk if this counts as a cliffhanger, so pretend it is.**


	12. Worry

God, he was right. Something was wrong with that girl.

Kyubi couldn't sleep after what happened a mere six hours ago. Clad in only a plaid pair of boxers, he paced around his living, mulling over the previous events.

Natsume was a nice girl, a great girl in fact. Not many people could handle being a, let's be honest, unlicensed therapist for ghosts with Mommy issues. Others, like her father, would break down and be a bit more selfish, unable to handle the emotional stress. Yet Natsume was able to do it better than Keita. She was much less selfish and didn't break under pressure.

Be he knew she was a ticking time bomb. He didn't know where the little on the clock was, but it was definitely counting to zero.

All this time, his daughter had been sucking everything up, not letting it go. At least in a healthy way. He didn't know enough about her personal life to make an assumption. Who knows, maybe she did let emotions out in some way.

Kyubi cursed when a pain shot up his calf. In his pacing, he stubbed his toe on a wooden leg of the couch. Before, he probably would have kicked the couch or burned up half of it. But he didn't.

Sighing, the kitsune slumped down onto the floor in a sitting position. He didn't want Natsume to go Shadowside. His biggest concern was that one day, after piling up of emotions, she'd finally snap and...change. He shuddered at the thought, remembering his first time.

Fumika breaking off their relationship wasn't the sole reason for his metamorphosis. Two huge reasons played a role too. Hers was merely the straw that broke the camel's back.

The first was the death of his uncle Benjiro.

Kyubi, when not being under his father's hydraulic press of a thumb, spent a good chunk of time with his uncle, listening to his lessons that he often sporadically went into. He wasn't a bad person, but he was definitely the black sheep of the family. No one else in his family had forsaken the tradition of being protectors of towns and other areas to be a, God forbid, loner in the sticks.

He didn't wanna say his uncle was weird, more like... eccentric. Yeah, that was more respectful. He had a shit ton of off the wall theories and unverified "facts"of life.

One of which was that the idea of love and friendship being two separate concepts was a lie. Love was just and advanced version of friendship. Yeeeeaaaaahhhh, he didn't subscribe to that idea and a good chunk of others. Or maybe he just wasn't enlightened. Many other people with insane ideas became prophets.

But if he was, he never had enough time to spread the word. Kitsune are beings made to survive extreme heat. Unfortunately, this also gives them the weakness to the cold. Even a mild case of hypothermia could be deadly. It took him just one slip into the creek on a cold February and he was gone.

Needless to say, Kyubi felt like someone ripped a good chunk of his heart out. It didn't make it better that the only people at Benjiro's funeral were him and a former "student" (aka, a tanuki who hung with him).

He felt hurt that not even his uncle's blood brother would come to pay his final respects.

The second event was moving away from his father and putting on so many restrictions that he wouldn't be able to go even a mile without getting put into jail for 40-50 years. You think moving out of your father's home and onto greener pastures would be easy. Parents say goodbye, have a good cry, eff off, the end. Of course he couldn't have that.

Benjiro's death played a part in wanting to leave, but it was also the years upon years of emotional abuse.

He wasn't always that way. That's what others told him. He had never seen this "nice" side. Plus, how could he trust the people who did nothing when seeing a boy being verbally thrashed to tears all because he didn't know how to tie a neck tie correctly.

24 years. 24 years of shit like that day after day. He was sick of the pain, the embarrassment, the shame. Seeing one of the few lights in his life snuffed out, he just snapped. Kyubi ranted towards his father, letting years of suffering explode violently. He didn't take anything when he ran off; just his suit and his phone and wallet. He had a set of house keys, but those were discarded by being thrown against a wall.

He always pondered if he left a a dent there or not. He hoped it had.

He just ran. Ran far away until he came to a train station. By then, he had used what cash he had left to take him as far away as possible.

Even when over a hundred miles way, HE still called. When blocked, he sent letters, telegrams, emails, any type of communication you could imagine. When that was blocked, his father even tried to have someone come over and convince him to forgive his father because he was sorry and they'd make up, blah blah blah. Needless to say, it did not end politely. It was over that five month that he began seeing Fumika. She was a little light in his life, something to look forward to in his bleak future. If it wasn't for her, he might have, no, WOULD HAVE, turned to self harm.

When she dropped the truth bomb, it stung like a nest of bees that you riled up. But when she cut off the hook ups, it felt more like the bees were plunking harpoons into his heart. That was when he turned.

The memories were pretty much nonexistant. But Kyubi did remember the feeling. A churning cauldron of hate, mourning and disgust. The after effects, though, were very evident. Not only did his house look like it had two blind cows play land Marco Polo, when he saw the news, it reported that an under water volcano had erupted the night before so violently, it's magma made a new, albiet small island. That consolidated his sadness a bit.

He still was a bit begrudging that he didn't name it though. Kyubi Island would've been nice.

Leaning his head back to look at the stark white ceiling, he thought about it. He, at his lowest point, had been able to set off a volcano so much that it had made land. Kyubi had trained many years to get at that skill level, at the time. He could control it and it still sent off a ginormous surge of power. He was lucky it wasn't on land where there were people.

But Natsume...he no idea how much her untapped power was. It could be enough to start a campfire or enough to add a new island the size of Australia. He didn't know. And that was the scariest part. She didn't have any training to hold back automatically. If she went Shadowside, it could cause major, major damage.

A/N: oof, another long one. Now with extra AnGsT! Please comment your thoughts.


	13. AFNA announcement and editing job

Hello my faithful readers, I have some good news and I have some bad news.

The bad news is that this story has been cancelled. But, the good news is that I cancelled it so I can rewrite this. I chose to do this for a few reasons:

1\. I read this story and it is nothing like I want it to be. When I wrote the most recent chapter for this story, I was at a roadblock because I had no idea to continue it. The story diverged so far from my original idea so much I had no idea what I was doing.

2\. I don't want to replace all my chapters with the rewrites because that would be a big hassle and would make the comments confusing.

3\. I want to have someone be my editor. I realized my previous stories stunk becauss I only did a spell check. I want someone who can look at my story and tell me what's wrong with it so I make it a great piece. If you're interested, please PM me. But, I will need to look at your own stories first to see their quality so I can see how well you edit and write. I just want to do this so someone who knows what they're doing can help. If I accept, I'll send you the draft and you can tell me what I need to correct. I'll credit you at the beginning of every chapter you edit if you do so.

Anywho, I hope you have a great day and consider my offer. CIAOU!


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